“Broken City” is a mystery but the real puzzler is how so many big-name stars were convinced to sign up for a movie that plays out like an awkward and rushed season of TV’s “Damages,” all crammed into 100 minutes.
Russell Crowe plays a corrupt New York mayor who hires a disgraced former cop (Mark Wahlberg) to spy on his wife (Catherine Zeta-Jones), whom the mayor believes is having an affair. Jeffrey Wright, Kyle Chandler, Barry Pepper and Griffin Dunne are all involved in the convoluted shenanigans, which spread out to include murders, affairs, shady business deals, conspiracies and at least two long-buried secrets.
All of that stuff could be fit into a “Damages” season fairly well — it helps that that show has a sense of humor about itself, which “Broken City” does not.
Here, the only way to cram everything in is to have characters tell us things, instead of revealing information through conversations: “I’m a vegetarian” and “I’m an actress,” Wahlberg’s girlfriend tells him, two pieces of information you’d think he’d have gleaned in their seven-year relationship.
The nonsensical plot reversals come at us so quickly that none of them registers, so you take what you can get, pleasure-wise. It’s diverting to try to figure out what accent Crowe is attempting to do — Boston? Maine? Narnia? And it’s fun to watch him and Zeta-Jones snipe at each other, as a couple whose loveless marriage is strictly for show. The danger and contempt those two Oscar winners fit into their scenes plays like a master class in turning a sow’s ear into a silky-smooth scene.
Meanwhile, Wahlberg is stuck with a boring, nice-guy-in-over-his-head part he’s played a million times (he co-produced “Broken City,” so it’s at least partly his own fault). Trying to keep things fresh, the movie gives him subplots involving jealousy and alcoholism, but both are tedious and underdeveloped.
In fact, the sharpest characterization in the movie comes from one of the few names most moviegoers haven’t heard of: Alona Tal makes the role of Wahlberg’s sassy secretary so vivid and credible that I started wishing she’d murder someone or have an affair, just so she’d get more time on-screen.
Chris Hewitt can be reached at 651-228-5552 or follow him on twitter.com/ChrisHMovie.
Directed by: Allen Hughes
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Russell Crowe, Catherine Zeta-Jones
Rated: R for violence, brief nudity and very strong language
Should you go? No. To be fair, I wonder if Crowe thought this could be smart, twisty fun along the lines of his “State of Play.” Why not rent it, instead? **